Author's note: This was really a part of the first chapter but I didn't want the it to be 17 pages long, so I spilt it into two chapters. THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR FEEDBACK! It makes me day!
Enjoy:
Sam really wasn't sure what the woman from the coffee shop was doing in his office but he knew Josh was responsible. Sam also felt the need to apologize for his friend.
"Sorry, but yes, Donna, he really a jackass." Donna slumped in the chair across from Sam. Her mother would not approve of her slumping, but quite frankly Donna didn't care.
"Can I use your phone?" Donna started calling her credit card companies, placing her cards on hold, she wasn't going to use them and she would be damned if she let Kevin use them either. While she was stuck listening to the muszac version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" for the tenth time, she turned started talking to Sam. "Whatcha working on?"
"A speech for tomorrow night, Toby needs to put some final touches on it."
"What's that?" She pointed to a folder.
"Education Bill."
"How many teachers did you get to work on it?" Sam stared at Donna blankly as if she had asked the question in Greek.
"What?"
"How many teachers? You wouldn't want a bill passed about writing speeches unless some speech writers worked on it, so how many teachers worked on the bill?"
"None."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. Hold on let me ask Toby." Of course Sam knew the answer, but it wasn't what he wanted to tell her. Toby was a way to avoid the topic. Sam got up and watched Donna as he left. He could understand why Josh was so clearly smitten with her.
"Toby, why don't we have teachers working on the education bills?"
"Why would you ask something so stupid?"
"I didn't, it was the blond at my desk and it really isn't a stupid question."
"Who is she?"
"Donna Moss. Josh stole her cell phone."
"REALLY?" Toby looked up from his notepad and smiled. "Why can't that boy just ask out a girl like a normal person?"
"I don't know, but he walked into a traffic light checking her out early."
"And I am just hearing about this now?"
"Sorry, but why don't we use teachers to write these things?"
As CJ was walking pass his office Toby called her in. Now both speech writers knew the answer to the question, but bring CJ into the fold made it easier to gossip about Josh. "Why don't we have teachers write the education bills?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Donna Moss the blond whose cell phone Josh stole about a half an hour ago." Sam pointed through the glass window. Donna gives a little wave as three of the most significant people in Washington gape at her.
"Josh also walked into a traffic light checking her out."
"REALLY?" CJ's face lights up. Donna hung up the phone and CJ called her into Toby's office. They made quick introduction and CJ answered the question. "We don't use teacher because it would be nearly impossible to pick the right ones. Let's say you pick one from each state, that's fifty teachers with fifty different school systems and fifty different set of problems that need to be fixed. It is hard enough to get five people to agree on anything around here, much less fifty."
"But you do it all the time in Congress don't you?"
"Um, yeah." CJ looked over at Sam who then turned the gaze over to Toby. No one really wanted to explain the truth to this wide eyed innocent woman, not about the deals that were cut or the partisan agendas that were pushed. As if saved by some divine force of nature Mandy stormed into Toby's office, which was currently getting a little crowded.
"Toby, he has to wear the hat. I know you are going to give me a hard time about it, but the President has to wear the baseball cap. It makes him seem all American and strong but friendly. Don't argue with me about it, its happening!"
"Geez why not have Toby turn his head and cough, at least that way he could get a medical exam out of the vice grip you have on his balls."
Donna froze when she realize what came out of her mouth.
CJ Froze.
Sam froze.
Toby smiled.
All activity in the hallway stopped.
Mandy opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, turned, huffed and left.
"I have never been able to get her out of my office that fast. EVER!" Toby smiled.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry, it's just that I am having the worst week of my life and I really don't know you guys that well and I shouldn't say stuff like that but…" Donna's head rested comfortably in her hands. Humiliation flowed through Donna, and she didn't even look up when she heard a "thump."
"There's a wall there, Josh." CJ smiled. Donna looks up to see Josh rubbing his shoulder.
"What did I miss?"
"Donna just gave Mandy a wicked tongue lashing and is about to tell us about the worst week of her life." Sam smiled.
"I am?" Donna's head still in her hands as she looked around the room to see nodding heads. She sighed and gave in. "Four days ago I was "downsized" from my crappy job in a PR company because I was the only one not sleeping with my boss."
"That is such a lawsuit." Sam muttered.
"So I'm on the quest to find a new job when my crappy now ex decides to come to DC from some medical convention and used the money in MY savings account to pay for it. Since it was my money, I decided to come along, he put up a brief argument alike, 'Oh you will be so bored.' But I always did want to see the Smithsonian and the rest of the Nation's Capital. So after walking around the monuments for a while I came back to the hotel room, where HE is having sex with another woman."
"OH MY GOD!" CJ screeches
"And he told ME to get out of the room!"
"OH MY GOD!" Screeched Bonnie and Ginger from the hallway.
"Why the hell is no one in their office?" Leo stormed in and pushed Josh out of the doorway. CJ sat on Toby's desk to make more room for the extra body.
"SHHH!" Sam waved Leo off. "Continue." He looked and pointed at Donna.
"Well I can't go back to the hotel, because he's there. I don't have the plane tickets either, all I have was my pocket book and my cell phone, which Josh stole." All eyes stare at Josh. "We had been planning the wedding for months now, so now I have to see if I can get the deposits back. When I pawned the engagement ring and I found it was cubic Zirconium."
"THAT BASTARD!" Yelled Cathy from the hallway. CJ nodded. While all the women seemed to be overly offended about the fake ring, Josh finally spoke the one thought which plagued his mind.
"And you gave your last ten dollars to two homeless guys?" Josh said with a hushed awe.
Donna looked up at him and spoke as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "well course, they have much bigger problems then I do."
Josh's eyes grew wide, as if the wider his eyes got the more he could see of her.
"Well not really," Toby spoke, "I mean you have no way to get back home, hell, you most likely don't even have a home since you two were probably living together, you have no job and no money and you are stuck in a strange city. Since he was likely cheating on you for a while, you should probably get tested too." All heads, except one, moved very slowly towards Toby.
"Toby!" CJ hissed.
"Oh God, don't cry." Josh rushed to Donna. He kneeled before her and looked up. "Please don't cry, um Sam doesn't know what to do when women cry. Please." But it was too late. The tears that had been bottled up for the past few days came flooding out. "Oh God what do we do? What do we do?" Josh franticly glances around for aid.
"BONNIE!" Toby bellowed and Bonnie ushered Donna out of the overcrowded office.
"I know, I know Josh and Toby are very mean men." Bonnie stroked Donna's hair.
"I didn't do anything!" Josh threw his hands up in the air.
"You stole my cell phone!" Donna managed to say between sobs. Leo shut the door behind her.
"'Sam doesn't know what to do when women cry.' Nice use of misdirection Josh!" Sam laughed, "For your next trick are you going to pull a rabbit out of your ass?"
CJ smacks Toby in the back of his head, "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I think it was pretty obvious I wasn't thinking, CJ."
"Oh yeah like you know how to deal with a sobbing woman." Josh rubbed his face.
"Who was that?" Leo pointed to the chair Donna once occupied.
"Donna Moss. Josh stole her cell phone." There seemed to be only one questioned being asked today and Sam was going to be the man to answer it.
"Why did you steal her cell phone?"
"When in my life would I know how to deal with a crying woman? Should I have taken a class in college?" Josh ran his fingers through his hair.
"He isn't going to answer my question, is he?" Leo sighed.
"I have an idea!" CJ clapped her hands together and smiled brightly.
"Did Harvard offer the course during the fall? Because one semester I took an archeology course…"
"I think we should keep her!" CJ yelled.
"Archeology?" Sam questioned.
"I think there are laws against keeping people CJ." Toby smiled.
"I was going through an Indiana Jones phase."
CJ started to plead her case to Leo. "She's perfect, smart, funny, she worked in PR. She needs a new life and we can give it to her."
"We can't keep hiring people off the streets."
"Why not?"
"Because, we can't, we just hired Charlie and Mandy."
Then Josh spoke in with a quite calm voice, "Leo, she's one of us." There was silence in the room.
Leo nodded because Josh had said the secret code word. "She's in. Where do we have an opening?"
"Amber quit, I need an assistant."
"No, you can't have her. CJ did you ever find anyone after Carol left?"
"No." CJ replied hopefully.
"Donna's yours."
"But Leo, I need an assistant." Whined Josh. "Maybe if someone who had TWO assistant would give one up."
"You can have Ginger."
"But Bonnie's the nice one."
"That's why you are getting Ginger!"
Meanwhile the communication assistants ushered Donna out of the office, cooing her, telling her men suck and saying all the things women say in order to make one of their own stop crying.
Her heaving sobs turned in breathy sob. "I think they are going to do it." Ginger broke the soothing. Bonnie and Cathy look at her.
"Who do you think she is going to get?"
"CJ."
"Why not Josh?" Cathy questioned.
"She's having the worst week of her life; working with Josh isn't going to make it better." Ginger said matter of fact. "I'll take Josh."
"Are you sure?" Bonnie's uncertainty rung through.
"Yeah. You don't like policy stuff." Ginger catches Toby's eye through the window.
"Thanks." Bonnie smiled, her best friend knowing her all too well.
Cathy turned her attention back to Donna. "She's going to need a place to say. I can get her a hotel for tonight. Do you think we can find her an apartment soon?"
"Margaret knows everything; she always has a list of openings. She's going to need suits and clothes. Margaret should take her shopping too. Until then she can borrow mine, we are about the same size, sort of." Bonnie offers.
Donna realizes all this talking is about her. "Um, what's going on?"
"They are going to offer you a job. The pay and hours suck, but the job is the best job you will ever have. History gets made here and you will be apart of it." Cathy smiled.
The door to Toby's office opened. "I want to ask her!" a now familiar voice bellowed. They piled out of the office and huddled around Donna, faces bright and eyes wide.
"Hey, Donna, um, well ah…"
"Do you want to work at the White House?"
"SAM! I was going to ask her!" With nearly forty years of experience, Josh Lyman had whining down to art form.
"You were taking too long."
"I could really use some help." CJ offered.
Donna felt a million eyes on her, everything was still, quiet and eerie. She was never one to take a leap of faith, not after all the times she jumped and landed on her ass. But opportunity didn't steal your cell phone everyday, and she had nowhere else to go. It was a vague hint of happiness, hope for a new life that made her answer.
"Um. Sure." Cheers and chaos erupted. The phones started ringing Sam barked orders to Cathy to call a hotel for her. Toby informed Ginger she would be working with Josh now, and he was horribly sorry to see her go.
"You'll be working for me now." Josh smirked.
"No, sweetie, you will be working for me." Ginger cackled. Josh led her back to her desk.
In the chaos and the thousands of moving bodies Donna called out quietly. "Josh." He turned around, slowly. "Thanks." The word seemed to linger in the air and he was the only one who heard it.
His teeth showed and his dimples appeared, "Anytime, Donna."
Their private moment didn't go unnoticed. Leo headed back to his office and walked into the office that was adjoined to his.
"We hired someone new today, Mr. President."
"Why should I care?"
"Her name is Donna Moss and she'll be working for CJ."
"Ok."
"Josh stole her cell phone." The president looked up from his papers.
"Really?"
"Today was the first time I've seen him smile in four months."
The Chief of Staff and the Commander in Chief's faces mirrored each other, same eyes of hope, same goofy smile.
"Leo, do you think the dark times are finally over?"
"Yes, sir I do."
"Great." The President slapped his hands together, 'What's next."
